hey guys. i have an upcoming project i want to tackle. whoever installed the utility bed on my truck didn't do a very good electrical job with the lighting. the lights work fine, when they want to. i've been wanting to spend some time back there and rewire everything nice and neat (labeled and organized by color). in the process i'm going to replace my 4" round stop-turn-tail lights with some nice 4" round LED stop-turn-tail lights. i've read in the past that some have installed LED's, and in turn, they flash quickly due to such a low load on the flasher. i also read that a load simulator can or needs to be placed in the wiring to prevent the speedy flash. is a load simulator necessary for what i want to do or would i be ok to just wire the LED's as is? and where could i find load simulators if i do need them? any suggestions or recommendations are awesome!!

 

when i replaced all of my stop/turn/tail lights on the front and rear of my truck with the LED's i had to put load resistors on them with a heavy duty flasher. i got my load resistors from superbrightled.com i believe and they were really easy to install.

 

under what section would i find the load resistors?

 

Here you go about 2/3 of the way down part # RL-650 Tail Light Load Resistor kit:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR


Here is what mine look like mtd:

 

I have a CJ5 that I put 4" round led rear lights in and my blinkers function just fine. They are a brake light, running light, and turn signal, in one light. I have no idea if that makes a difference.

 

thanks colo! i'm gonna try them without the resistors since gear jammer says his work fine. if i need the kit, i can come back and get 2 of them. they also have a LED bulb flasher just below the resistor kits if you look. not sure what would be the better way to go. LED flasher or resistor kit?

 

If you have or get an electronic flasher they will work fine without any resistors.
If you do need them you can get them at Pep Boys.

You need an electronic flasher that has a ground wire to work properly.

They sell modules that can make all of your LED's strobe in timed burst of light.

 

All my running lights are LEDs - the only lights on the outside on my truck that are not LED are the headlights. As Jim Lane said you can replace your flasher with a "No Load" flasher - they work great.

Bob

 

so what you're saying is if i were to get an electronic flasher, it would need the ground to work properly with the LED's or for it to work period?

and the resistors, you say i can get at pep boys?

these are the lights i bought. the 4" rounds at the top....
Product Listing - TRUCK

 

Yes if you get an electronic flasher that is meant to work with LED's there usually will be an additional ground wire however there are new flashers out that do not need one.

They will have an actual electronic flasher circuit that drives either a relay or power transistor to drive your LED's

With a traditional Flasher your tail lamps are part of the load circuit and the resistance of the load is required to make it flash at its predetermined rate, this is why when you had a burned out tail lamp they would flash real fast.

With the old incandescent lamps because the tungsten filament had to heat up and cool down as the lamp flashed the flash rate was around 60 FPM or flashes per minuet but now because the LED's have zero attack and decay time (instantly ON) you can flash them faster and still perceive them as flashing where if you were to flash an incandescent lamp at the same 120 FPM it would be perceived as being constantly on.

This is why you can get modules that will flash or strobe your lights up to 480 FPM.

I have a heavy duty electronic flasher similar to the Mack 47M019301P2 (SS# 250)
About 1/3 of the way down of this page and I got into the circuit and turned up the FPM to see what they would look like and the flashes are still well defined at 120 FPM so I might look for one.

http://www.truck-lite.com/wcsstore/t.../PDF/09ELE.pdf

If you have ever watched any of my videos you can hear the flasher in the background, it will thump the floorboard.

I am also working on a circuit that is going to sequentially strobe all of my LED lights on the truck with my alarm system and an idea for an anti-carjack alarm.

And yes I have seen the resistors at Pep Boys.
Jim

 

On my flatbed truck, I installed the grote 4" round LED tail/stop lights, and they worked with a regular flasher. Don't know why but it did?

 

I think with the bigger 4" lights there is enough resistance for them to flash normally, or if you only replace the rear lights there is still enough resistance when combined with the front incandescent bulbs. I think the flashing issue's arise when install replacement led bulb's, not the 4" lights.

 

the 1157 replacement LED's?

 

thanks jim! i know you are a very intelligent man and i respect that and your work. like these other guys are saying it only seems to be a problem when you install replacement LED bulbs. as stated before, i'll try them with my system as is, and if needed i can arrange to get an elec. flasher or load resistors. thanks for all the info guys!! this is (and there are many other reasons) why i love this site!!

 

one more thing before i forget and while we're on the subject... my turn signal switch (or stalk i believe) doesn't make contact when signaling to the right. i can hear the flasher opening and closing, but if my indicator light in the dash doesn't flash, neither does the filament in the bulb. and in order for the indicator to flash i have to put a bit of upward pressure on the stalk to make the contact. what's involved in this fix? is it a clock spring in the steering column?